1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to technique of inspection by radiation scanning and imaging, in particularly, to a collimation and calibration integrative apparatus for container inspection system.
2. Description of the Related Art
A radiation source for generating high energy X-rays and a detector array for receiving the X-rays penetrating through a container are key elements for a container inspection system. When a container is penetrated by X-rays, the penetrated X-rays are transmitted to the detector. The density distribution of the objects in the container is reflected by the strength variation of the penetrated X-rays, and is then obtained by converting the strength of the penetrated X-rays into a gray scale of an image. At present, the conventional container inspection system is classified into such types as stationary container inspection system, mobile container inspection system, relocatable container inspection system, and so on. In the above container inspection systems, X-rays emitted from the radiation source are required to be calibrated and collimated. In the prior art, a calibrator and a collimator are separate units and arranged in turn in front of the radiation source. Thus, when in use, the position and angle of the calibrator and the collimator are required to be adjusted separately. The two units occupy large spaces in the system and are very heavy. In particular, for a relocatable container inspection system which generally uses a linear electron accelerator mounted in a compartment, it is very difficult to use the conventional calibrator and collimator because the inner space of the compartment should be as small as possible. The installation and adjustment are also very inconvenient.